IO Challenge- Favorite Quote

The latest IO challenge is to use a favorite quote or poem. I am going to be honest and say that I know I had a different approach to this challenge! You see, I chose to use a movie quote since I am a movie quote addict. The hardest part to this challenge was to choose just one quote. I went with one from one of my favorite movies..."Best in Show." I don't know how many times I have seen that film, but I never get tired of it. It always makes me laugh. I figure that I can use the card with a "what's brewing" sentiment on the inside, or even use it for an anniversary card. Of course, the couple would have to be familiar with the movie...

I promise to come back later to include the stamp credits for the card. It is getting a little late now, and I think I need to go to bed. In the mean time, check out the quote cards that Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jenny, and Julie created. They probably made much more meaningful cards than I did.

Want to play along in the quote challenge? You have until Friday night to submit a card with a quote theme. All of the information can be found here.

Paula Best

I hesitate to share this card I made because I think the stamp has been discontinued. However, this is the only thing I have made recently to share so...

I really like Paula Best's work. It is so quirky and unusual, not to mention fun to color. For my "catfish," I colored it with an assortment of copic markers and then layered it onto the Impression Obsession bubbles Cover-a-Card stamp.

Update...got a comment from Paula Best that all of her stamps are still available, so ignore my thoughts about the stamp being discontinued.

Impression Obsession Color Challenge

I really love color challenges. The latest Impression Obsession challenge is to create a card featuring the following colors: Coffee, Nutmeg, and Pumpkin. Now, being the geek that I am, I wasn't really sure exactly what color "Nutmeg" is, so I had to do a Google image search. The results were mixed. Sometimes it looked more like cinnamon to me (medium reddish brown), and sometimes it was a light shade of brown. I decided to go with light brown.

Leigh Hannan designed a series of fall images for Impression Obsession featuring things such as cattails, acorns, and leaves. I fell in love with the Corn (E2102) image and found out that it is indeed possible for me to make a fall card without a pumpkin on it. Who knew?!

To make this card, I stamped the corn image onto cream paper using black Memento ink. I colored the leaves with two brown Copic markers (E31 Brick Beige and E53 Raw Silk). For the corn, I decided not to color each individual square because that would take FOREVER. Instead, I dabbed more of the two brown markers as well as YR16 Apricot, Y17 Golden Yellow, and YR31 Light Reddish Yellow all over the corn area until it was filled. Sometimes it is best not to stay within the lines! To finish the coloring, I used the three orange/yellow markers to color the leaves, added some chocolate Prismacolor pencil to the tiny circles on the stems, and shaded around the image with a Warm Grey Copic parker (W1). For the background, I stamped the Cover a Card Swatches image (CC023) onto cream cardstock using Colorbox Chalk Chestnut Roan ink and added a saying from the Count Your Blessings clear set (CL286). It has a nice assortment of sayings for the fall and Thanksgiving.

Need more inspiration? Check out what Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jenny, Julie, Kathy, and Shirley have created.

Want to play along? You have until Friday 9pm EST to enter. All of the information can be found here, and you can even win a $25 Impression Obsession gift certificate!

Halloween Tassels

Well, it is now October, so my Halloween stamping has kicked up a notch (to quote Emeril). For this card, I stamped the Halloween Tassels (H2381) by Impression Obsession onto white cardstock. I cut it out with a Labels 8 Nestability die and colored it with a combination of colored pencils and Copic markers. I edged the piece with Dusty Concord Distress Ink and then spritzed it with some Frost Shimmer Spritz for extra sparkle. I am sorry I didn't take an extra picture so that you could see the sparkle!

On an unrelated note, last weekend my mom and I visited Gettysburg for the first time. It was an amazing trip. My friend Marilynn suggested getting a private tour guide for the battlefield instead of taking the audio tour or joining a tour bus. She was so right! It was probably the best tour I have ever taken. We also had a chance to visit some farms and vineyards. I wanted to share a picture from the weekend featuring some of the gigantic pumpkins we saw. It really got me in the mood for autumn.

Inner Witch

Today I wanted to post another card from my Leigh Hannan Halloween class. I used stamps by Impression Obsession called Spa Day (G2346) and Spider Web Paisley (D2251) for the outside and the saying "Inner Witch B5543" on the inside. Basically, the saying says "Embrace Your Inner Witch." I love it!

To make the card, I stamped the paisley repeatedly to create a background paper. I accented the webs with Stardust pens and black watercolor pencils to color the spiders. For the witch, I colored the cauldron with C5 and C7 Copic markers and the rest of the scene with watercolor pencils. Finally, I edged the witch with some Dusty Concord Distress Ink.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I am spending the weekend with my mom, so I know I will have a wonderful weekend!

Love Leigh Hannan

One of the best things about working with Impression Obsession is that I am given the chance to work with Leigh Hannan images. I love, love, love them! I have been on a Leigh Hannan kick right now preparing for my Leigh Hannan Halloween class tomorrow. The card above is one of the cards in the class. To be fair, only the pumpkin and saying (both from CL158 Halloween Party) are Leigh's. I added the Cover a Card Medallion (CC032) and Flourish 2 (H5575) because I thought they worked well with the focal image.


To make the card, I stamped the background in Versafine Smokey Grey ink and overstamped it with the Flourish using Black Versafine ink. For the top of the card, I stamped the pumpkin with Memento ink and colored it with Copic markers. Finally, I added a few clear rhinestones to the pumpkin for a little extra pizazz. Here is a close up of the pumpkin:


I was really pleased with the end result, so I am also going to submit it for the Craft Critique Halloween Blog Carnival which highlights all kind of crafty projects. If you are interested in playing along with them, you can find all of the info here.

Inchies and Fall

The latest IO challenge is to use Inchie Squares as well as a fall theme. When I first heard about the Inchie Art squares, I wasn't sure about them. After all, I can cut my own squares. Then I used them. Wow! First of all, they aren't 1" cardstock squares. They are pre-cut artist quality matboard pieces. They take paint and inks really well and add a nice dimension to your projects. Plus, the truth is I can't cut uniform squares to save my life. Can you tell I fell in love with them?

For my card, I used stamps and sayings from the Tami Potter Autumn Seals set (CL108). Tami made a set for each of the seasons, and I find that I use the sets as the foundation of a lot of my seasonal cards. First, I stamped the wood grain Cover a Card (CC034) onto an Inchie Arts tan card using brown Versafine Ink. Next, I stamped the leaf image three times onto cream Inchie squares using Habaneo, Spanish Moss, and Crimson Red Versafine ink. Finally, I added the Keats quote circle and added a saying to the inside.

Need more inspiration? Check out what Daniela, Deborah, Dina, Jeanne, and Kathy created. Want to play along? Enter your own Inchie/Fall card on the IO blog by Saturday night, and you could win a $25 IO gift certificate. All the information can be found here.

My Own Bed

I finished my cat/housesitting gig, so tonight I get to sleep in my own bed. Woohoo! Truth be told, the bed at the other house is nicer than mine, but there is just something to be said about your OWN bed!

The card above is one I made at the other house using the other person's craft supplies. Why is it that using someone else's stamps is so much fun? Humm... In any case, I used their Paula Best hat stamp and an old Hero Arts birthday image to make a card for my friend Angela. Of course, I had to add some extra bling to finish the card.

Well, off to enjoy my bed..

Beach Babes

Well, it is another busy week of house/cat sitting and trying to coordinate between two homes. I keep forgetting to take the right things with me wherever I go. The good news is I finally remembered to take a jpeg with me so that I would have something to post.

A while back, I posted the Art Impressions Dancers. This time I thought I would post the Art Impression Beach Babes. They are so much fun to color! When I used my Copic markers with these ladies, I moved away from my normal "E" Copic colors and went towards "YR" colors. I thought the Yellow-Orange shades gave a more realistic Florida Snowbird skin color. To add some sunburn and blush to the ladies, I added a little of the R20 marker to the shoulders, cheeks, cleavage, and top of the legs.

To finish the card, I added some glossy accents and real sand. I can't decide if I went one step too far with the real sand. Should I have left well enough alone?

Just Rite Challenge

I needed to get back to making cards just for fun, so I decided to play along with this week's Just Rite color challenge. I didn't want to make a fall card even though the three colors scream "autumn." Instead, I decided to make a coffee card.

One of the things I like about the Just Rite alphabets is that you can spell any saying you want. I decided to spell out "thanks a latte" with my letters and add a coffee cup from the coffee set. I drove myself a bit nuts looking for some real coffee beans to embellish the card, but I have no idea where I put them in my craft organization. I am sure they are around here somewhere! For the patterned paper, I used some of the Basic Grey Archaic line.